Royal Dutch Shell has announced it is working on developing new technologies to reduce customers’ energy use — such as electric vehicle charging — and it plans to invest up to $1 billion per year to do so.
News from Goldman Sachs that oil demand could peak as early as 2024 pushed the oil giant towards new ways of generating energy.
In a speech planned for Thursday, Mark Gainsborough, executive vice president of New Energies for Shell, will say that the company was already starting to provide fast-charging for electric vehicles at its petrol stations and that it is also working on developing ‘smart charging’ to help even out demand on the electricity grid, according to Reuters.
Shell’s New Energies division is also involved in building offshore wind farms and in installing solar panels at its own sites.
Back in 2016, Shell launched the New Energies division, which consolidated the company’s hydrogen, biofuel and electric initiatives. It was launched to serve as the base upon which a move into wind power would be mounted. The capital investment in New Energies was $1.7 billion and its annual capital expenditures will be $200 million, which is less than 1% of the $30 billion the company spends on oil and gas activities.